Getting better every day

Former Ray Quinton McCracken has kept his enthusiasm with Arizona despite personal losses.

By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 18, 2002

He remains the one teammates turn to with questions even Einstein would find difficult to figure with calculator and cheat sheet.

Curious about angles and bat speeds and how the physics of it all must work harmoniously to hit a baseball over an outfield fence?

Quinton McCracken is your guy.

So what if his degree from Duke is in political science and history and if he has hit only 15 home runs in 532 major-league games?

"If I was starting a business either in baseball or off the field, he'd be a guy you'd have to have on your side," Rays catcher John Flaherty said.

The smile and those bright, oval eyes befit those of a child. The personality is as inviting as a tall glass of sweet tea on a July afternoon in his native North Carolina.

"He has that kind of personality where he's just genuinely a nice guy," said Rays centerfielder Randy Winn, who credits McCracken for teaching him the ins and outs of major-league life and who remains a close friend. "We'd go out to lunch and people would come up and say, 'Hey, you guys play for the Rays.' Quinton takes a genuine interest in people, so he'd ask their name and have these long conversations with them. ... People see that about him and they really like him."

None of that has changed about McCracken, one of the original Rays and now a reserve outfielder for the defending World Series champion Diamondbacks.

What is different about the 32-year-old, however, is his perspective on life and baseball. The death of his mother and father in a seven-month span and the continued rehabilitation from a knee injury will do that.

"What's that old saying? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," McCracken said last month when the Diamondbacks played the Marlins at Pro Player Stadium. "I'm a stronger person because of all that I've been through the past few years."

The personal growth began during the 1999 season.

The Rays' second pick in the 1997 expansion draft and the team's 1998 MVP, he came to spring training in 1999 after spraining his right knee in offseason conditioning. Two months later he tore his anterior cruciate ligament at Tropicana Field and missed the rest of the season.

He played in 15 games with the Rays and 85 with Triple-A Durham the next season.

Instead of paying him a minimum of $1.5-million, the Rays released him that November. The organization already had paid him $3.7-million over two seasons in which he had just 179 major-league at-bats.

"I had instances where I think I was playing pretty well, would be promoted (from Triple-A Durham), come up and sit," McCracken said. "They just couldn't afford me the opportunity to play myself, consistently, back to my form.

"The organization went out and brought in Greg Vaughn and Gerald Williams, and I became expendable. That's the crux of the whole situation."

The Cardinals signed him to a one-year deal in January 2001 and released him March 28, 2001. McCracken signed with the Twins as a minor-league free agent a month later.

He thrived with Triple-A Edmonton, batting .331 with 27 doubles and 45 RBIs, and earned three promotions to the big-league club.

"I was able to go to Minnesota with a clean slate and reestablish myself," McCracken said. "They afforded me the opportunity to come in and play every day at Edmonton. The results of that are documented."

But on June 17, a night before he was to dress in a Twins uniform for the first time, Herman McCracken suffered a heart attack in a room at the team hotel and died. He was 65.

Herman's death came less than seven months after Quinton's mother, Saundra, died. An elementary school teacher for 28 years, she had raised Quinton.

"That took a toll on me physically and mentally," he said. "That's something that gets better each and every day. But it's something that no one can prepare for.

"Losing both parents in such a short period of time lends perspective. Baseball is just a game. I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to make a career out of it. It's something I cherish. And this is a way to get your mind off of things. It's therapeutic for me."

The Diamondbacks signed McCracken as a minor-league free agent this past off-season.

"We did so thinking he would be a tremendous asset to (Triple-A) Tucson," Arizona general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said. "At the same time we knew, thought we knew, if we needed to reach for him that he was a legitimate major-league player.

"But he had a great spring, didn't get nicked up and here he is."

McCracken's playing time is limited because of a glut in Arizona's outfield. With 35 at-bats in 24 games through Thursday, he was hitting .314 with a double, three triples, a home run and five RBIs. "I think most people say I'm getting myself to where I was even before the injury, or better," he said. "Hopefully better. That's the goal: to get better each and every year. I think I have. I think I'm smarter, stronger and in good physical condition.

"The past couple of years have been very difficult, yet definitely character building, to say the least."